


At the End of the Rainbow

by Mestiza_Shinrin



Series: Sousuke in Tokyo [1]
Category: Free!
Genre: Canon Compliant, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-19
Updated: 2020-11-19
Packaged: 2021-03-10 01:42:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,559
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27625583
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mestiza_Shinrin/pseuds/Mestiza_Shinrin
Summary: Nevertheless, the same way he was appraised and welcomed in the impressive program-HS; he was let down.Sousuke was admitted into a new program-High School in Tokyo for athletic promising stars.
Series: Sousuke in Tokyo [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2019800
Comments: 2





	At the End of the Rainbow

**Author's Note:**

> Hey! I tried to write about the first two years of Sousuke in High School. I hope I can still write more about those years. I want him to be friends with Yazaki Aki. Also, there are some cameos from Rough, a manga about swimming. It is kinda cool, you should check it out.  
> All constructive criticism is welcomed and encouraged as well as kudos and comments!  
> This is my first fic, please be gentle :)
> 
> The title is from the song with the same name by Hammerfall
> 
> I do not own Free! characters.

It didn’t really surprise him. His coach had told him about a scout from a High School on Tokyo who approached him in the last meet. Sousuke knew his potential, knew his results, knew we was a promising rising star. The fact that he was able to compete in the National Meet against older boys helped him to be on the spot. It was very convenient since he did not want to think too much about where he will continue his education without sacrificing his swimming career.

He received many letters asking him to compete for their High School in exchange of a scholarship. He only bothered to open one. He was only interested in being the best, so he only opened the envelop who carried the name of the most prestigious HS in Tokyo. It was extremely difficult to enroll there, and Sousuke was everything they wanted. The letter was practically begging him to come to their school. They only needed his confirmation and his diploma from the junior high.

Since Tokyo was in the poll to be the host on the 2020 Olympics, they wanted to come with the best of the performances by then. So, the Japanese government started to develop a new program to train the best high school athletes from all over the country for the Olympics in 2020. If the program was a success, they would expand it to more cities and more sports, not only the Olympic ones.

This way, Sousuke will definitely be alongside Rin in the international stage.

The amazing opportunity will take him away from his family, his friends and Gou. But it will bring him closer to Rin. He knew Rin was doing his best in Australia, the least he could do was his best too.

As expected, his new school was a strange combination between a laboratory and a normal HS. His classes were not very difficult nor very easy. They had to take advanced classes on anatomy, nutrition, geography, English and fundamentals of biomechanics though. A strange education compared to the other schools. Although his classmates were not very different from those back in Sano. They were hormonal teenagers with acne and enough angst to share. Also, they were pros in their own sports.

He could not complain. The ambience helped him to focus on his goal. And the fact that he was learning more English prompt him to write better letters to Rin even though the latter would not respond them back.

With him, there were two other people from Iwatobi: Yazaki Aki and a guy from the baseball team called Ogata Takeshi. He was nice and hard working. Yazaki, was an old acquaintance.

Their meals were controlled, and the diet was mainly based on lean meat, integral rice and steamed vegetables. Fridays were the best, they would serve tonkatsu, fried egg rolls and pizza, also soda was permitted.

Meanwhile, every three weeks he had some conditioning tests in the pool and outside. They also trained with the help of numerous trainers and assistant coaches. Each one of the students would be closely observed. And the same treatment would come for the rest of the athletes in the school. Sometimes big names like Kosuke Kitajima and Satomi Suzuki would come and held swimming clinics and talk to all the swimming and diving teams.

Rin would love this. But Japan’s project was far behind from Australia’s level yet.

His first year of High School he became the best swimmer in the 100 meters butterfly of his age in Japan. And probably he could put up a good fight against the Chinese swimmers too. Each stroke meant he was nearer to his goal.

Hence, he did not stop, he could not stop, each effort was more intense than the last one. His body changed; he was broader, stronger, powerful.

Swimming is a lonely sport. Even if you have a team, you compete just for you. You are the only one on the lane, you must face the whistle and the water alone. You have to swim a lot of laps alone, the only company you have is the blue line in the bottom, and even if someone tried to say something to you from the sidelines, the water would block any sound. You were on your own.

He made a few good relationships with some of his teammates, but they were not quite his friends. Rin is his friend. Gou is his friend. Kisumi is his friend. But he did not connect with anybody in that degree. Yazaki was the closer, but it wasn’t that much anyways, despite her efforts. Sousuke knows it was his own stubbornness, he thought he needed no one. He thought befriend someone could actually slow him, maybe he could lose his focus.

For some time, everything proved him right. He was breaking any record from his age category in the freestyle and butterfly races. In some years he may took Hiroki Nakanishi’s national record in the 100 freestyle. And if he continued with his impressive results, he could make the national selection as a relay support for the FINA Championship in Barcelona in 2013 while being 17 and swim a final in the 2014 Youth Olympic Games in Nanjing.

Nevertheless, the same way he was appraised and welcomed in the impressive program-HS; he was let down.

He managed to compete pretty well with a sting in his shoulder. Until it was too much. Until it didn’t just hurt, but it also sounded cracked and looked bluish.

In the trials for the Junior National Team, he came last in his heat, it was pretty impressive to actually finish the race. After that, he was cited to a reunion with his coach and the school board. They told him he could no longer participate in the program. They would recruit a new boy called Keisuke Yamato. Despite that, Sousuke could still finish his academic year there and received treatment, but he had to enroll in another school for his third year.

At least they wrote a letter of recommendation and pay for the MRI and other studies. It was all futile any way. The humiliation of falling behind, he was incapable of even going to the pool. It was unnerving and depressing. He failed Rin. He did not want him to figure out; but he was ok because Rin was not in Japan and the school promise to keep his retirement low profile.

He could say he felt sad, but it would be an understatement. Of course, he knew how everything would turn out when the pain was becoming unbearable. He saw his world clash in front of him, he could not feel himself. As he was losing his purpose, he was losing himself. Everything irritated him. The only thing keeping him apart from picking a fight was his shoulder pain. The mere act of washing his hair was pathetic, he had to use his left arm to do absolutely everything requiring a little bit of strength. He would push his friends aside, but he didn´t have any, despite anything Yazaki would say.

And well, in the end Yazaki was right.

She was going to America for her last year of HS in hopes to be recruited by an outstanding university there, where she could start her career as a pro swimmer. She had more chances there than in Japan, where not many universities were interested in professional athletes.

So, as a final request she asked him to go back to Iwatobi and find Rin.

How did she know that? She didn´t want telling him.

She understood the seriousness which Sousuke treated his deal with Rin and how much it has affected him those last months. She knew Rin may be the only one who could help Sousuke get out of his void, of his own misery. After all, according to Sousuke, Rin is the one who could achieve the impossible.

The original idea was the two of them to go to the Regionals, where they knew Rin would be. Yazaki wanted to say hi too, since Rin was one of his friends back in elementary school too. She wasn’t sure if her other Iwatobi friends were still competing, since Haru and Makoto drop out from the swimming club and she had not heard anything else from Nagisa either. Maybe Rin knew something about them, she still misses all of them.

Yazaki apologized profusely with Sousuke, she could not go with him to the Regionals, that same weekend she had to present some English as a Second Language test to apply to any American school. She promised an invitation to ice cream when he gets back.

Sousuke encountered himself with a view he did not expected to see.

Rin was absolutely destroyed; he was almost unrecognizable. But it confirmed Sousuke’s suspicion from before, Rin had smashed himself against a wall back in Australia. And it looked like he hasn’t recovered.

The Iwatobi guys were still swimming.

Rin looked happy when he swam the relay with the Iwatobi guys.

Sousuke found a new dream.

Sousuke wanted to swim with Rin as longtime rivals.

Sousuke wanted to swim with Rin as a teammate.

Souske wanted to be a truly friend of Rin.

Sousuke wanted to swim.

Sousuke wanted to swim for one last time.


End file.
